"In
1857 a few Baptists who had settled north of Indian creek organized a
church
in a small house about six miles west of Tyler, just north of what is
now
the Chandler road. The charter members of this church were Silas
GRAMMAR [sic] and wife, William CLAY and wife, H.S. [sic] ELLIS, John
REAVES
[sic], Turner WHITE and wife, Edwin ADAMS and wife, and G.B. [sic]
GREEN.
This church was organized by John WHITMORE and Robert CLAY and called
Indian
Creek church ..."1

Smith County, Texas, was young and still
considered
wilderness when a small band of settlers, mostly farmers who had moved
in from the older southern states, covenanted together to form Indian
Creek Baptist Church. The church existed from 1857 to 1866, a
mere nine years. No physical trace remains of this rural
congregation
once located in western Smith County. And there are few documents
telling of its ministry and members. One member's last request to
be buried at Indian Creek Baptist Church and a reference to the church
in old minutes of New Harmony Baptist Church brought two family
researchers together to spend an extraordinary amount of time and
effort
to learn some of the history of this long-forgotten little church.

The above newspaper article, written by R.A.
DEAN
in 1938, identifies 11 charter members and two organizers.
According
to Cherokee Baptist Association Annual Session
Minutes,
the membership of Indian Creek already had increased to 26 at the time
it petitioned to join the association in October 1857.2

"G.B. GREEN was soon ordained to preach and the
church,
though few in number and not wealthy, contributed of their means,
bought
a horse and sent Bro. GREEN out to do mission work in Henderson and Van
Zandt counties.3
While we do not have the statistics to show his success, we feel sure
that
God blessed the efforts of this little church and pioneer missionary.

"In 1859 the church was moved to a place on what is now the
Dixie
Highway, near the home of the late Judge BEAIRD. There they built
a very comfortable house and the church gained considerable numerical
strength.
Robert CLAY was pastor of this church from the time it was organized
until
1863 ..."4

Cherokee Association minutes show J.H. WHITMORE
as
pastor at the time the church petitioned for membership in 1857.
WHITMORE was described as a missionary who regularly preached that year
at Indian Creek, Enon, Mt. Zion and Newburg.
In minutes of later years, R.C. CLAY is named as the pastor of Indian
Creek.
CLAY preached on the fourth Sunday of each month in 1859 and 1860.5

Indian Creek regularly sent delegates to the
annual
associational meetings. Each year from 1859 through 1861, the
church
showed membership growth (no associational minutes have been found for
the years 1858 and 1862). Numbers peaked at 45 in 1861.6

GAMMON, Sarah SMITH~
charter member, 1857.(Wife of Silas Gammon and
first cousin once-removed to John Wood Barron. Sarah's father,
John
Smith, was a
brother
to John Barron's grandmother, Martha Smith Barron.)

GAMMON, Silas~
charter member and association delegate, 1857.(Gave
property for the church in 1858.)

GREEN, G.H.~
charter member and association delegate, 1857.(Listed
as G.B. Green in article by R.A. Dean.)

PRICE, John M.~
association delegate, 1860.(Son of S.R. Price, who
gave
property for the church in 1858, and husband of Sarah A. Adams, a
daughter of
Edwin
and Martha Adams.)

WHITE, Absalom Turner~
charter member, 1857.(May
have given property for the original church site in 1857.)

WHITE, Salena PRICE~
charter member, 1857.(Wife of Absalom Turner
White
and a daughter of S.R. Price, who gave property for the church in 1858.)

WHITMORE, John H.
~ organizer and pastor, 1857.

From this partial membership listing, it is
quite
evident that the church was formed by extended family groups.The PRICEs and son-in-law Absalom T. WHITE left
Benton (now Calhoun) County, Alabama, and lived briefly in Mississippi
before settling in Smith County in 1848.9
They may have been accompanied by the CLAY family, who came from
Tishomingo
County, Mississippi, at about the same time. Silas and Sarah
SMITH
GAMMON, originally from Jones County, Georgia, arrived from Louisiana
about
1851.10
John B. REEVES migrated from Coosa County, Alabama, in 1851, buying
land
in November a few miles west of where the original Indian Creek church
would be sited.11
The ADAMS family, including sons-in-law Henry T. ELLIS and John W.
BARRON
(nephew of John B. REEVES), followed from Coosa County in 1852.12
Henry ELLIS's parents, George M. and Frances SIMMONS ELLIS, also made
the
move from Coosa County, although probably a few years later than their
son.13
Locating
in the same general area west of Tyler, these families intermarried in
the 1850s. It is quite likely that other members of these
families
also joined Indian Creek Baptist Church [see Appendix].

"At this time all of the male members were engaged in
the
war between the states, and this church went down. After the
close
of the war, Bro. John BARRON, one of the members, made an effort to
rally
the membership and get the church back to work, but failed. He then
called
upon them to meet and disband, which was done in the fall of 1866."14

Indian Creek Baptist Church was not represented
at
the annual associational meeting in 1865 or 1866 (no minutes have been
found for 1864). A report made by W.G. CAPERTON, a minister, in
the
October 1866 associational meeting described the difficulties faced by
churches in the area: "The desolating influence of war has
scattered
many of our churches and left our sanctuaries desolate. Whole
neighborhoods
are left without the living ministry."15

In the associational minutes of 1867, J.W.
BARRON
is listed as delegate for the Indian Creek church. No pastor is
named.
In its last year, the church had no additions, three members moved
their
letters, and membership dropped to 31.16

After the Indian Creek church disbanded, its
members
took different paths.

• Several died. Edwin ADAMS had died
in
1862 and was buried nearby in what is now known as Beaird Cemetery.
William Henry CLAY died in
1861, burial
location unknown. John M. PRICE
died before 1870, burial location unknown.17Silas GAMMON,
who requested in his 1867 will to be buried at Indian Creek Baptist
Church,
died in 1868. His wife, Sarah SMITH GAMMON, appears to have
predeceased
him.18
Their graves have not been identified. Nor has anyone located an
Indian Creek cemetery. Speculation is that Beaird Cemetery might
have previously been the cemetery for the church [see Indian
Creek Baptist Church].

• Some members moved away. Absalom
Turner WHITE and Salena PRICE WHITE sold their property in Smith
County
in 1860 and moved to Henderson County. She died there before
1870;
he remarried and later moved to Somervell County.19
William B. CHEEK joined Salem Church in Cherokee County and
served
as one of its delegates to the 1867 Cherokee Association meeting.20
John B. REEVES was in Henderson County by 1867.21
He lived there only a few months before removing to Van Zandt County,
where
he appears on the 1870 U.S. census. His family continued to
maintain
ties with his BARRON kin over the years. Nancy W. PRICE CLAY
moved
to Tyler and was a member of that city's First Baptist Church
in
1888.22

• Other members formed new churches nearby.

"The Indian Creek community was then left without
religious
service of any kind. In 1868 there was a small school house built
[...] A Sunday school was soon organized and kept up for several
years [...] In the spring of 1872 M.J. DEAN at his own expense
built
the first meeting house for what is now Dean [Baptist] church.
The 8th day of June was set for the organization of the church [...]
There were nine charter members [including] Mrs. Sarah PRICE, Mrs. Jane
PRICE and Mrs. Jane ELLIS."23

Sarah (Mrs. John M.) PRICE and Jane (Mrs. Henry
T.)
ELLIS were daughters of Edwin and Martha ADAMS, charter members of
Indian
Creek Baptist Church. Jane ELLIS's husband also was a charter
member
of Indian Creek and later preached at Dean.24
Jane (Mrs. Madison F.) PRICE was the former Christiana
Jane VENABLE. Sarah and Jane PRICE were daughters-in-law of S.R.
PRICE, who gave a portion of land to the Indian Creek church in
1858.

"Most of the membership (of Indian Creek Church) went
to
the New Harmony church a few miles further north."25

John Wood BARRON and wife Elizabeth;
mother-in-law
Martha ADAMS (widow of Edwin ADAMS); brother-in-law Andrew Jackson
ADAMS;
Mary Ann ADAMS BEAIRD (a daughter of Edwin's son, Jeremiah J. ADAMS);
and
Joseph Smith BARRON joined with several neighbors and various BARRON
relations
newly arrived in Texas to form Harmony Baptist Church in 1867.26
The choice of name for the new church may have referred to hopes for
better
times after the Civil War or possibly to the problems that led to the
breakup
of the Indian Creek church.

Harmony Church became New Harmony soon after
it
joined the Cherokee Association in 1869, as there was already a Harmony
Church in existence.27
From New Harmony's church minutes, there is a brief description of the
difficulties that caused Indian Creek's demise: "... most if
not all of those that went into the organization [of Harmony Church]
come
[sic] from Indian Creek an old and influential [church] of this (Smith
Co) which from causes proceeding from the late War caused the
dissolution
of the Church."28

Though Indian Creek Baptist Church existed
for
only nine years, its legacy endures through the longevity of its
offspring
churches, Dean and New Harmony, which continue to serve their
communities
after more than 125 years.

A deed dated 19 Oct 1858
(Smith DB J:223) may identify one of the missionary
efforts of Indian Creek Baptist Church. G.H. Green, as moderator,
signed this document on behalf of the "Church at Macedonia" authorizing
three men to hold the deed for land recently
donated to the church. These men were S.R. Price (who was likely
a member of and donated land for the Indian Creek church
just 11 days earlier), J.H. Thornton and Thomas Lowery. The
Macedonia church was located in Garden Valley on the
border with Van Zandt County. Green, Thornton
and Lowery were recorded in close proximity to each other in Garden
Valley on
the 1860 U.S. census of Smith County. Macedonia
Church appeared for the first and only time as a member of the Cherokee
Baptist Association in 1859 with G.H. Green as
pastor. Total membership of the church was not given, but five
were
baptized, seven were received by letter, one was dismissed
by letter and two were excluded. That same year, the association
granted Macedonia Church a "letter of dismission."
It is not yet known if this church disbanded or joined a different
association.

4.

Dean, "Baptist
Association."

5.

"Cherokee Baptist."

6.

"Cherokee Baptist."

7.

Dean, "Baptist
Association"; "Cherokee Baptist"; and Smith DB 41:216.

8.

Joseph Smith Barron
obituary, Baptist Progress, 11 Oct 1923, p.
15. ["Bro. Barron professed faith and joined the Baptist
church at Indian
Creek Church near Watter (should be Walter) Beards
on the Dixie Highway, but now extinct. He remained a member
there till the church disbanded and then joined at New
Harmony as a charter member in 1867."]

9.

Confederate Pension No.
30739 issued to M.D.L. Price, son of S.R. Price,
"Soldier's Application" dated 06 Mar 1915, Henderson County,
Texas. National Archives, Washington, DC.
[M.D.L. Price stated in 1915 that he had resided in Texas for 67
years. The evidence suggests that both S.R. Price and Absalom
T. White lived in Mississippi (probably Tishomingo County) before
settling in Texas. It is assumed that the two families
moved together and arrived in Smith County at the same time.]

Clora Barron Stanley,
notes written before 1960. [The author, a granddaughter
of John Wood Barron, states, "In the fall of 1852, John &
Elizabeth (Barron) with the baby Josephine and
Eight other members of Elizabeths family came to Texas ... In the Adams
Family making the trip to Texas was Elizabeth's
Father and mother and some brothers and sisters that was (sic) mostly
Grown." Named were Edwin, Martha, Jerry
and Sarah E. Adams.]

13.

The Ellis family arrived
in Smith County before July 1859, when Noah
Ellis (Henry's brother) married Martha E. Adams, a daughter of Edwin and
Martha Adams.

14.

Dean, "Baptist
Association."

15.

"Cherokee Baptist."

16.

"Cherokee Baptist."

17.

John M. Price served
in the 22nd Texas Infantry, Co. I, C.S.A., during the Civil War.
No
record of him has been found after June 1863. If he survived the
war
and returned to Smith County, he likely was buried at the
Indian
Creek Baptist Church (now possibly Beaird) cemetery.

18.

Probate Record of Silas
Gammon, File No. 251. Smith County Clerk's
office, Tyler, Texas. [In his will dated 12 Mar 1867, Silas mentioned all of
his children but not his wife, indicating that she
had died before that date.]